What Style of Salsa to Learn in Melbourne (or Australia generally)

A few of my friends have asked me this, and when I googled it before I got started, I found the answers confusing (please don’t ask me what “mambo” is), so I’m just putting down in writing what I’ve learned about the best style of salsa to learn in Melbourne (or Australia, generally. I think Sydneysiders will agree I can speak for them if I want. Get your own blog).

Look, I’m no pro. I started learning salsa properly in early 2025. Before that I dabbled — a few socials where I was totally lost, a couple of months in Colombia (where I basically learned a routine in Caleña style and promptly forgot everything when COVID happened), then a couple of months of Cuban in Mexico, and then basically starting from stratch in on 2 salsa at La Encantada in Melbourne (see my other post on where to dance on 2 in Melbourne).

But I’ve done a few hundred hours of dance since then and been to a few dozen socials (all the on 2 ones in Melbourne, plus a few others!), and have learned a bit of the lay of the land, so am just sharing this in case it helps.

The TL;DR of this post is to learn on 2. Learn it first, learn it as your only style if you want, and learn it well. Here’s why.

Quick overview of dance styles

OK, quick overview: What styles are out there? I’m going to be super simplistic and break it down into three:

1. On 1. This is also known as LA-style salsa. It’s where the lead steps forwards (“breaks forward”) on 1. The follow breaks backwards. It’s the most popular style in the world and possibly the universe.
2. On 2. This is also known as Eddie Torres or New York style, where the lead steps with the left on 1 and breaks backwards on 2. Ooh, New York style, like the Met Gala and pizza by the slice, fancy, kind of.
3. Cuban, also known as casino. This is danced somewhat in a circle. Lots of the names have moves. It’s called casino because… bloody guess why. There’s also rueda, where people call out moves and everyone does them, but honestly, we’re now outside my wheelhouse. I just know some people I meet say they dance “Cuban” and we don’t really speak the same language.

The difference is felt more when leading. If you’re a reasonably good follow (1-2 years consistently dancing), you can follow anything from a good lead. But a lead has to stick with one style consistently.

Are on 1 and on 2 interchangeable?

No! Stop it!

For some reason, it’s a popular thought among on 1 dancers who’ve never formally taken on 2 that they can just follow on 2 if that’s what the lead is dancing. It’s true to a degree (neither of us will fall over and die, and we can have a good time), but the dancer has to already be quite competent in on 1 for it to work. When they’re relatively beginner, everything feels unnatural. Things as basic as turns, cross-body movements, and advances have fundamentally different steps and rhythms.

Even a good on 1 dancer, when dancing on 2, will still do things in an “on 1” kind of way, e.g. doing turns faster. It’s not a death knell, and we can both enjoy it for sure, but it doesn’t feel quite right. And when we start switching up the timing, e.g. to son timing or to on clave, or when I pretend to be doing that but am actually lost, it breaks down.

As a lead dancer, I used to try to dance on 1 for the benefit of some beginner dancers. After a while, I gave up at this — I just suck at on 1 as I never learned it. So I either ask the follow to dance on 2 with me, or we don’t dance. It’s better off for both of us this way! Otherwise I’m getting things wrong, losing timing, switching back and forth… it’s not a good experience.

Why Dance on 2

The reasons I think everyone should start with on 2 and stick with it are

• There’s no reason to wait; neither is easier
• On 2 is more versatile than on 1
• The movements make more sense for a follow
• It’s the endgame for many dancers

Firstly, some say on 1 is easier. I suppose conceptually 1 is lower than 2, but aside from that, it’s not easier. Both on 1 and on 2 are equally hard. They share all the same foundational concepts of weight transfer, fluidity, gentleness plus clarity, fluidity, and musicality.

I will say that on 1 dancers switching to on 2 have a terrible time. It can take months to get used to it. I haven’t experienced the opposite switching to on 1 — I “get it”, I just don’t enjoy it, it feels like salsa for robots.

Secondly, on 2 is more versatile. When you dance on 2, you have the option of switching up timing to mambo (the gugum-pa of the conga), or even to the clave at times. In theory, you can do this in on 1, but people just don’t; mambo is danced on 2 by everyone, so forcing on 1 to mambo timing feels abominable.

Thirdly, on 2 timing is more follow-centric. As a lead, I think it’s my responsibility to create a dance framework and structure in which the follow can express themselves. So the fact that follows break forward on 2 makes a lot of sense to me – it makes cross-body movements easier, and it makes turns more natural as there’s a pause in them.

Finally, on 2 is somewhat on a pedestal for many dancers. It’s seen as more advanced. It’s not, by the way, but that’s how it’s perceived. Some schools require you to get a foundation in on 1 before dancing on 2. I don’t really get this; there’s no reason why you can’t start in on 2 and just keep doing it. I did, and many people I know did, too!

Counterpoints

There are two counterpoints — reasons you should learn on 1 first. But I don’t think these outweigh the pros.

The first counterpoint to this is if you learn on 1, you can dance with most people (not me, though!). It’s kind of a universal language, like French, si tu sais ce que je veux dire. But I think it’s not necessary to learn it if you don’t want to.

The second counterpoint is that because on 2 is seen as “more advanced”, it’s a bit weird to be a beginner on 2 dancer, so the on-ramp takes a while longer. I know that some beginner on 2 dancers have been asked if they’d like to switch to on 1 and it has been confusing for everyone.

I think that’s it… I can’t think of another reason to first focus on on 1. Oh, maybe if you live next door to an on 1 school… practicality is everything.

The Melbourne Context

Something I’ve learned while dancing in Melbourne is that “advanced dancers dance on 2, and beginner dancers dance on 1”. “Boo, hiss!” you cry, suddenly pelting me with stones. Relax, please. This is obviously a dramatic simplification — there are some amazing dancers (and teachers) who dance on 1, and for the record, both they and you are better than me. But the tendency is for advanced people to dance on 2, and for performances to be on 2-centric.

For this reason, I’ve seen a lot of people progress through dancing like: learn on 1, go to a bunch of socials, get better, realise people keep asking if they dance on 2 and feeling bad that they don’t, then realising “Oh crap, I have to learn on 2” and signing up to a school that teaches it.

Shortcut this process! Just learn on 2 from the beginning!

A few schools out there teach on 2 from scratch. In fact, they all have, at various points, so look at my resources page linked above and find one near you.